Harmanpreet Kaur becomes 3rd Indian after Kohli, Rohit to achieve huge T20I milestone

Indian Women's Cricket Team captain Harmanpreet Kaur on Monday reached a huge milestone in T20 Internationals when she walked out to bat in the T20 World Cup match against Ireland. Harmanpreet has become the third Indian cricketer after Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma to score 3000 runs for the country in the shortest format. Harmanpreet needed seven runs to reach the milestone before the match against Ireland. 

Harmanpreet reached 3000 T20I runs for India after she hit Orla Prendergast on the leg side for a single in the 13th over. She became the first woman cricketer to score 3000 T20I runs for India and fourth in women's cricket. Only Suzie Bates, Meg Lanning, and Stafanie Taylor have scored more runs than Harmanpreet in Women's T20 Internationals. Harmanpreet now has 3006 T20I runs from 150 matches at an average of 27.83 and a strike rate of 105.75. 

Harmanpreet also became the first woman cricketer to play 150 T20Is for India and also first woman cricketer in the world to play 150 T20 Internationals. No other cricketer - male or female, has played these many games for their country in the shortest format. 

The 33-year-old recently surpassed Indian men's team captain Rohit Sharma to feature in most T20I matches across gender. Harmanpreet achieved the feat when she walked out at the toss in her team's group-stage match against England at the ongoing Women's T20 World Cup 2023 on Saturday. Rohit has featured in 148 T20I matches for India. 

India vs Ireland

As far as last night's game is concerned, Harmanpreet scored 13 runs before getting dismissed by Laura Delany. Smriti Mandhana scored 87 off 56 balls to help India post 155/6 in 20 overs. Mandhana was assisted by Shafali Verma (24) and Jemimah Rodrigues (19). Laura Delany picked up a three-wicket haul, while Orla Prendergast took two to her name. 

Ireland were looking good in their chase after losing two quick wickets at the start of their innings. Gaby Lewis forged a partnership with Delany to score 54/2 in 8.2 overs. However, rain interrupted the play and after some time, the officials decided to abandon the match. India won by 5 runs (D/L method) to qualify for the semifinals of the competition. 

Image: AP